Reclaimed for His Royal Bed by Maya Blake

Author:Maya Blake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-09-15T11:54:11+00:00

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Delphie took her seat in the opera house beside Lucca after another dazzling red-carpet ceremony and a photo op with a string of A-list celebrities that would’ve left her dizzy once upon a time. A time before she’d met Prince Lucca of San Calliano...

After her years in the fashion industry, and the excesses she’d witnessed first-hand, she’d thought she’d be jaded by another sun-drenched, heaven-kissed locale that catered to the rich and powerful, but with each discovery of San Calliano’s many wonders she couldn’t help but be drawn into its charm. It stood head and shoulders above Monaco and the French Riviera, and deserved its title as the new international film festival destination.

The movie that was to formally open the festival was a melodramatic love story, fraught with impossible odds and heart-wrenching obstacles from the start.

Delphie realised she was ill-prepared for it when she felt the furtive scrutiny of the audience, and as the drama on-screen ramped up, so did her emotions. Because she’d discovered another misstep on her part: she hadn’t paused to read a synopsis of the movie or about the defining moment of the story—the loss of a child.

Her heart began to hammer as the soul-wrenching events unfolded.

Delphie didn’t realise she was shaking until Lucca’s hand grazed hers. She tensed, but couldn’t bring herself to move, fearing she’d draw more attention.

‘Cara? Are you all right?’ he murmured, his breath washing over her ear.

She suppressed a shiver and hastily nodded, but when she tried to speak her throat was clogged. With emotions. With memories. With their conversation in the car that had drawn her anguish for what he’d had to endure as a child. With her own loss and longings scrambling to rip free from the titanium vault she’d placed them in.

Her eyes begin to mist. She blinked the tears away, but emotion continued to suffocate her.

‘Is it too much? Do you want to leave, dolcezza?’ Lucca pressed.

Dolcezza. She’d refused to read anything into how easily he’d slipped back into the endearment he’d used for her in the past. Refused to entertain the idea of being his sweetheart, especially now.

But now the term caught her on the raw, striking at the soft, unguarded centre of her emotions. Dragging her to a time she didn’t want to remember—especially as the female character on-screen howled her pain at her loss.

‘No. I’m fine,’ she managed to croak, thankful for the dark interior of the spectacular opera house.

Lucca didn’t reply, but when his lips brushed over the back of her hand the roar in her ears almost drowned out the hushed whispers in the room, and the spark of guilt in her belly added to the maelstrom of emotions.

‘You will admit your every truth to me. I guarantee it.’

Her insides quaked as she recalled Lucca’s words. Somewhere along the line she’d convinced herself that her loss was hers alone, but now, as she cast her own furtive glance at Lucca’s imperious profile, she wondered whether that was true. Whether he didn’t deserve to know the truth she’d told herself was better kept locked in her heart.

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